Preliminary Syllabus (for information only)

ENGL2238: Children’s Literature (Fall 2017)

A fuller preliminary syllabus, with details on assignments, will be available via Brightspace in early August.

 

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:05-2:25pm

Hicks 217 (at time of posting)

Professor: Julia M. Wright (julia.wright@dal.ca)

Office: McCain 2193

Office Hours: Tuesdays, 3-4pm; Fridays, 2-3pm (except Oct. 13, Oct. 27, and Nov. 24); or by appointment. Note: I usually add extra office hours before an essay is due.

 

Course Description:

This course will focus on British-Isles literature written for children, from short stories to novels and poetry. After some early texts, we will turn to the so-called Golden Age of children’s literature, and then a range of twentieth-century examples, including the rise of the multi-volume series for children and young adults.

Format: Lecture/Discussion

Prerequisites: Any course or combination of courses that satisfies the College of Arts and Sciences Writing Requirement.

 

Assignments: Weightings and Due Dates:

·       Three Response Papers: 250 words each. You may submit up to five but only the top three grades will count: 5% each for a total of 15%. No extensions and no late response papers will be accepted. Alternative assignments or re-weightings will be offered only in the event of significant medical documentation indicating illness on two response-paper duedates or more.

Response papers are due at the start of class (1:05pm) as follows:

1.     Part I of Tom Brown’s Schooldays, September 14th;

2.     Remainder of Tom Brown’s Schooldays, September 21st;

3.  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, September 28th;

4.  Treasure Island, October 12th;

5.  The Story of the Treasure Seekers, October 26th;

6.  The Horse and his Boy, November 14th.

It is strongly recommended that you write at least one in September.

·       Quiz (1 hour), 15%, on October 5th

·       Essay (1,500 words), 35%, due November 2nd; 3% per day of lateness, including weekends, unless medical or other serious documentation is provided.

·       Final exam (2 hours), 35%, as scheduled by the university.

·       Students are also required to attend classes and participate in discussion as key parts of the learning process, and to regularly check Brightspace: course materials will be posted there, as well as notifications regarding extra office hours, any cancelled classes, and so on.

 

Book List (available in the university bookstore; other required readings are available online and via Brightspace):

Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Ed. Peter Hunt. Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 2009.

Hughes, Thomas. Tom Brown’s Schooldays. 1857. Ed. Andrew Sanders. Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 2008.

Lewis, C. S. The Horse and His Boy. 1954. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.

Nesbit, Edith. The Story of the Treasure Seekers. 1899. New York: Puffin Books, 1996.

Orwell, George. Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. 1945. London: Penguin, 2008.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. 1997. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013.

Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island. 1883. New York: Puffin Books, 2008.

 

Course Schedule

Readings must be completed before the first class in which they will be discussed. I don’t waste class time on plot summary or basic description: class discussion will focus on historical context and analysis of the material, and it will be hard to follow if you have not finished the assigned readings. This schedule is subject to adjustment if there are unexpected class cancellations or if students’ interest leads to further discussion. (Readings marked with an asterisk will be available via Brightspace.)

Origins

September 5th: Introduction (full class)

September 7th: Early Children’s Literature (c. 1800): Chapter 1 from Mary Wollstonecraft, Original Stories from Real Life (1788; illus. by William Blake 1791; link only works on campus or via netid); "The Chimney Sweeper,” “A Cradle Song,” and “The School Boy” from William Blake, Songs of Innocence (1789)

 September 12th: Maria Edgeworth and Richard Lovell Edgeworth, “Little Dominick”* from Essay on Irish Bulls (1802); Preface and “The Tempest” from Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb, Tales from Shakespeare (1807)

The Golden Age

September 14th-19th: The School Novel: Part I of Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1857)

September 21st-26th: remainder of Hughes; Fantastic Worlds I: Edward Lear, “The Owl and the Pussycat” (1871)

 September 28th-October 3rd: Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865)

 October 5th: one-hour quiz in class

 October 12th-17th: Travel Adventures I: Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island (1883; earlier serialized in Young Folks)

 October 19th-24th: New Fairy Tales: Bridget Kavanagh and Julia Kavanagh, “The Pearl Fountain”* (1876); Oscar Wilde, “The Selfish Giant”* (1888); Andrew Lang, “The Master-Maid” (1889)

The Twentieth Century: The Emergence of the Series and the Team

October 26th-31st: The School-Holiday Novel: Edith Nesbit, The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899; first of three novels about the Bastables)

November 2nd: Fantastic Worlds II: Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit (1922); essay due

November 14th-16th: Travel Adventures II: C. S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy (1954; fifth volume in the Chronicles of Narnia)

November 21st and 28th: The School Novel Meets Fantastic Worlds: J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997; first novel in the Harry Potter series) (no class November 23rd)

 By Way of Review

November 30th-December 5th: Is It or Isn’t It Children’s Literature?: George Orwell, Animal Farm: A Fairy Story (1945)